Cork children's ICU
Colm Burke sought an update and funding for a dedicated children’s ICU at Cork University Hospital amid concern over invasive strep A cases. The Taoiseach said the death he referenced was heartbreaking and stressed awareness and that phase one of the paediatric department is under way.
Since October, 219 cases of invasive group A streptococcus have been reported.
There was extensive coverage on RTÉ and in the Irish Examiner at the weekend of the sad death of Vivienne Murphy in 2019 and the lack of a proper paediatric unit in Cork University Hospital, CUH. There is a paediatric unit there and the staff are working extremely hard. There is planning permission for a new paediatric unit but a dedicated children's ICU is needed in CUH. What is the up-to-date position regarding this development? Planning permission has been granted. Will funding be provided? When will it be provided and when can the work start? Also, what is the position on putting in place a dedicated ICU? The tragic death of Vivienne Murphy has highlighted the need for a regional facility such as this.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy for raising this very sad issue. I had an opportunity to read about the case and to hear Vivienne's mother speak on the radio at the weekend. It is a heartbreaking story. It is important that we raise awareness of strep A, especially among the medical profession, including nurses, and among parents. It is tragic to think that perhaps if treatment had been given sooner, if an antibiotic had been prescribed sooner, that young Vivienne would never have ended up in hospital at all, never mind having the experiences she endured.
Phase 1 of the paediatric department in Cork University Hospital has been built and commissioned providing dedicated cystic fibrosis outpatient accommodation in CUH. Phase 2 is currently being developed. I am told it is at detailed design stage. It involves high-dependency beds and specialist haematology-oncology beds to accommodate the needs of paediatric patients in Cork for the next ten to 20 years.
Carrying out major surgery and therefore providing an ICU in CUH is a different matter which will be down to medical advice. At the moment we have two national centres for major surgery and paediatric ICU, namely in the hospitals in Temple Street and Crumlin. The current advice from the experts is that they should be consolidated in one national centre, that is, the new national children's hospital which will open next year. Whether having regional centres would produce better outcomes in the round is a matter for experts but we must bear in mind that spreading expertise, skills and resources more thinly does not always mean better outcomes for everyone.